Am I the only one who liked The Crystal Empire?

[Megas 27,630]

I actually liked it more than Canterlot Wedding, which is saying a lot. While I do understand why some people may dislike it, I think they blow the flaws way out of proportion

[Spinelspike 78]

Don't you worry. There are plenty of people who also enjoyed/loved this episode (myself included)

I don't really see what's to complain about honestly. The characters acted in character, and all had great comical moments and some great interaction between them. I think each member of the mane 6 and spike managed to get a good equal amount of screen time, with the main focus still remaining around Twilight. Personally, I didn't mind that Sombra didn't get too much to do in terms of interacting with the mane 6, because the episode wasn't about him. It was about "The Crystal Empire" as the title states, and Twilights journey to undertake a huge task given to her, as well as learning that she has to put her duty in front of her personal assignment and let her friends help her. Sombra still had an interesting backstory, and was still a pretty good threat. You always knew he was there desperate to get in, he does hinder the heroes progress, and his magic door and puzzles do reflect his evil cunning personality.

Overall, I loved this episode, the characters were great, and the songs were great (even if people didn't see the point of the failure song, I still find it a good song, and it is sort of purposeful as it reflects the fact that Twilight has come to realise that now she has to be issued with these great important tasks, and that the Elements of harmony now only work for her and her friends. She isn't just singing about how she didn't expect this one task, but singing about how she realises how un-prepared she is in the future where Celestia is very liable to pass these important duties onto her whenever).
We got some hilarious character interaction, I like how Spike was the one who saved the day as it really benefits his character and his relationship with Twilight, and we got to see a new civilisation, a new location, a new type of pony, and a new mystery to uncover.
Nope, I don't understand the complaints this episode gets either. But as long as we all like it, who cares

[Anadu Kune 668]

Yes.

 

Actually, a lot of people liked it. I'm not one of them, because the episodes have a lot of flaws. Here's a review cos I'm too lazy to type.

 

The reviewer seemed to miss the technical side of certain things. The reviewer misses the entire point of the failure song in particular. The song was meant to express Twilight's fear and doubt, which was the theme of the entire episode. The song wasnt meant to move the story forward but to firmly establish Twilight's fear of failure. Songs like this help us further get into / understand a characters emotional state or motivation in an expressive manner. To me its like complaining about the Part of Your World song in the Little Mermaid. It was already well established that she was obsessed with humans at that point so why sing? For the reasons above. both songs serve a similar purpose. It seems the problem is that he simply didn't like the song, which he defiantly expressed at the end. Which is fine.

 

His way of complaining about Sombra seems off to me as well. Stating that his entire back story was given. No it wasnt, all we know is that he enslaved the crystal ponies and was an extremely corrupted dark unicorn. He claims the story would have been stronger if Sombra was just a dark cloud with no back story. To me that would only bring a big plot hole into the mix. Why would a unpersonified dark force conquer a kingdom? There is clearly intelligence behind Sombra's traps and one could conceive of motivations for why a unicorn want to conquer the crystal empire. But a dark unpersonified force. It could work but this wouldn't make the episode structurally better, in fact it would most likley be worse for it.

 

this brings me to the answer of the op question. 

 

No. Many like it. However it does seem many tend to focus on certain aspects and not take in the episode as a whole. Many including the above reviewer(video) seem to miss the point of certain things like the failure song. And a ton of people completely miss the point of Sombra. He was meant to be a dark evil presence that drove the characters into action. He was the beast pounding at the gates. His basic back story was provided so you could see why he was bad news and why the crystal ponies were so frightened of him.  Many also seem to call him nonthreatening in power, however this misses the fact the he seemingly has a power that celestia and luna can not overcome. If they could do you think they would have let the Crystal Empire be banished from reality for 1000 years? In other words Celestia failed. She managed to defeat Sombra. In the end however it only postponed the inevitable leaving the crystal ponies banished from the world only to return 1000 years later, in a depressed  semi-amnesiactic state. In the end it comes down to the fact that he is a different kind of villain, meant for a different kind of purpose. I prefer Discord, or Chrysalis, but there is nothing really horribly wrong with Sombra.  Not many seem to have a problem with Sauron from lotr and he seemed to have less lines and personality than Sombra, and with three lengthy movies as opposed to a 40 min episode.

 

Edited February 2, 2013 by Anadu Kune

[Sonata18 105]

I loved the crystal empire episodes.  In fact, I'm going to watch them again today. OMG SHINY PONIES YAY.  I honestly can't remember all the flaws people talk about.  I just didn't notice.  

[himanuts 165]

It isn't my favourite two parted, but it was highly enjoyable. All 6 of the main cast actually did something, how ever minor . Luna actually shows up in regard to discussing important matters. A little more is elaborated on Cadence's powers and royal lineage. And it was really awesome how it was Twilight and Spike's friendship that basically helped saved the day.

[Soundgarden 2,758]

Not to sound like a total funkiller here, but it's the most boring episode I've ever watched in my entire life. I think it's because the episode didn't any twists that caught my interest or any kind of story elements that made it fun to watch. I was halfsleeping through the whole episode

[FruitRiver 355]

I thought this episode was awesome. I'm not in love with failure sucess song or sombra but it was still a good episode in my opinion. I don't get why people dislike it so much.

[Batbrony 16,055]

​ Ummm... no, pretty certain you're not the only one who loved that episode.  I mean, yeah, Sombra wasn't in it that much, but still, I personally loved it, and I'm 99% certain that most bronies loved it as well.  Just because some of us critiqued some aspects of the episode doesn't mean we didn't love it; still, I will admit that I'm sure there are some out there who honestly didn't like it, although by my estimation they're probably in the minority on that one. 

[Circadian 1,273]

Sombra was more of a Sauron-esque villain. He doesn't really directly interact with the mane 6 a whole lot, but his overpowering prescence is strongly felt throughout the whole thing. Also, this:

 

Did you really want to see this?

[Equus 91]

Aye, the response was largely negative amongst those I most frequently talk poni with; I don't know if I'm just easy to please or what, but I was the only one among us who thoroughlly enjoyed the two-parter (though not as much as the Discord and Chrysalis arcs). The songs weren't quite as good as the ones in the S2 closer, but the episodes were extremely foreboding and rather dark for a Y show - and as such I was glued to my proverbial seat through the episodes! It's perhaps the most 'serious' arc yet. Not bad at all.